Massa shrugs off deficit to Red Bull

Felipe Massa downplayed Williams' deficit to Red Bull and insists he was happy with his recovery to the top 10 during the Spanish Grand Prix.

Having closed the gap to Red Bull in Russia, Williams slipped significantly adrift if its rivals in Spain as Max Verstappen secured victory, with Daniel Ricciardo fourth.

Massa recovered from 18th on the grid, having been knocked out in Q1, to score points courtesy of eighth spot.

"It was definitely a very good race for us with some good points, finishing eighth positon from starting 18th," he said.

"It was a difficult race, and not on our best track to finish in the points, so I’m happy. I know we’ve lost points compared to Red Bull, but that’s the way it is."

Valtteri Bottas had a low-key run to fifth place, significantly adrift of the Red Bull/Ferrari scrap, but ahead of Toro Rosso's Carlos Sainz Jr.

"I think we got the maximum and I’m pleased to get decent points," he explained.

"We know our car wasn’t quick enough this weekend, but we had a good result, so that’s positive. Of course we would like to battle for the podiums and wins, but it wasn’t possible this weekend.

"We need to keep pushing on the development and we need more pace on these type of tracks. We knew that if something happened we could gain a couple of places, otherwise it was always going to be tricky, but this is racing.

"A lot of things can happen and this time we took a small advantage from it."